Disagreement, even argument, is a normal part of working on a team. In fact, you can pretty much predict when the most disagreement will happen.

When everyone is just getting to know each other?

When productivity is highest?

When the deadline is getting too close?

No – this is called the “storming” phase and can be expected between the “forming” and “norming” phases. That is, it comes right after the team gets to know each other, but before the serious work begins.

This terminology was introduced to me today at the STC Huntsville Rocket City Technical Communication Conference. (My next few posts will likely revolve around takeaways from this conference – it was a great experience.)

According to MIT, the five stages of team development are:

  • Forming: The meeting stage. Feelings are positive, teammates are asking questions, and trust is being built. This is when many teams have a “kickoff” process.
  • Storming: This is the first contact with reality. Masked anxiety or concern from the first stage might come out here. There are disagreements and strong feelings.
  • Norming: Team members learn how to work on the team – not just any team, but this particular team. Members resolve problems, establish group guidelines, and get ready to lock in.
  • Performing: This is the work phase – we all know what this is.
  • Adjourning: MIT calls this “Termination/Ending.” Finishing up tasks, evaluating performance, sharing information, processing emotions over ending the project.

In each phase, focus on tasks changes, along the lines of the figure below:

Line graph showing that, over time, focus begins low in the forming stage, then drops in the storming stage. It rises throguh the norming stage, peaks in the performing stage, and drops for the adjourning stage.

However, I think that’s only part of the picture.

Storming has the lowest focus on group tasks. Probably, the least is accomplished during this phase in any project. But that’s only one part of what makes a project successful.

The storming phase also has the greatest potential for innovation. Sure, the project may already be innovative, but by airing disagreements and frustrations, the team can make the project even more valuable.

Without a good storm, the norming phase will have nothing to build on.

Maybe it’s more time-efficient to minimize the storming stage by not acknolwedging it and keeping the team moving through it as quickly as possible. However, this can miss a lot of opportunity.

And, I have to say, a technical writer is the perfect person to make the most of a team’s storming phase. Our whole job is identifying points of friction – whether that’s for peers, stakeholders, or users – and smoothing them out. When a team is storming, they’re just identifying those pain points within the team. A technical writer knows how to probe deeper, find the underlying cause, and bring a solution to the attention of the team.

That’s why I think the graph from above needs a different y-axis:

Line graph showing that, over time, opportunity starts out low, then peaks in the storming phase. It gradually descreases over the remaining stages.